Irfan Pathan, the former Indian cricketer, has advised the Mumbai Indians (MI) to consider bringing in Quinton de Kock for their upcoming IPL 2026 match against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) on April 16 at Wankhede Stadium, especially if captain Rohit Sharma is unable to play due to a hamstring issue. Sharma retired hurt during a recent match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and while he trained lightly on April 15, his participation remains uncertain. Pathan believes that if Sharma is sidelined, de Kock should open alongside Ryan Rickelton, noting that de Kock has amassed 3,309 runs in 115 IPL matches with an average of 30.63 and a strike rate of 134.02. Additionally, Pathan suggests that MI might need to replace Trent Boult with either Deepak Chahar or uncapped Mohammad Izhar due to Boult's struggles in the powerplay. He also proposed that Hardik Pandya and Chahar could share new ball duties if Boult is omitted. Currently, MI is struggling in the tournament, sitting ninth in the points table with just one win from four games.